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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23211193">The Lion’s Roar</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/ObtuseOctopus/pseuds/ObtuseOctopus'>ObtuseOctopus</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Steven Universe (Cartoon)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Childhood Trauma, Coping, Dark Past, Emotional Baggage, Emotional Hurt, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Mental Health Issues, Mental Instability, Past Abuse, Physical Therapy, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Therapy, Trauma</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-03-19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-03-19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-01 09:47:08</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,589</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23211193</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/ObtuseOctopus/pseuds/ObtuseOctopus</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>• COMPLETE. •</p><p>🎵“And I’m a goddamn fool, but then again so are you.”🎵</p><p>Steven finds Jasper’s form of therapy to be ludicrous. When he starts blowing up on her about what’s bothering him, they may find they’re not as different as they thought.</p><p>Maybe Jasper isn’t so bad after all.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>60</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>The Lion’s Roar</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>“Ow! Seriously? What was that for?!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Your stance is lacking, and you’re bending your knees over your foot. Do you want them to snap?” Jasper criticized brutally. “Any farther than over your knee, and I don’t even need to see it to know a physical form like yours will shatter itself if not collapse.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Jasper, these tasks are ridiculous,” Steven huffed as he threw down the rocks. “You’re carrying TWO! I have EIGHT!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“And eventually, you’ll get down to one.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Then why am I starting off with MORE?! Isn’t that… reverse psychology?!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Jasper rolled her eyes in amusement. “Less talking, more doing.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Steven grumbled under his breath, recollecting the rocks that he had thrown down. “This doesn’t even have anything to do with why I came here. These are ROCKS!” He dropped them all again, and he was not at all happy about it.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Jasper turned around, facing Steven like a large tiger about to scold a cub that refused to listen to her. “This is your emotional burden,” she snarled, helping Steven pick the rocks back up. “And your strength is in your shoulders. Carry it.” She patted Steven’s back, then returned to carrying her own rocks up the slope.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Steven gritted his teeth. These… lessons, as Jasper called them made no sense to him. She said that they would help him. And HOW?! How when all she wanted him to do was carry rocks up and down, punch a tree, and then do some kicks or hits?! It was all FIGHTING! When would she ever LISTEN and let him deal with his issues EMOTIONALLY?!</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Once they both reached the top, Steven watched as Jasper set her rocks down. The sunset was turning the sky auburn, pink swirling like cotton candy in the jumble. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Jasper… I want a break,” Steven sighed, falling down and letting his rocks roll back down the hill. “This is a lot.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Breaks are for wimps. Get back up,” Jasper nudged Steven with her foot. “You’ve made progress. Accepting a break now is going to rewrite all your progress.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“It’s okay to take a five minute break!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“That’s five minutes of progress you’re wasting!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Steven clenched his hand into a fist. It was taking every inch of strength in his body to refrain from getting destructive. “You’re so PUSHY!” He shouted, getting up rather quickly. “What is any of this going to do for me mentally?! This is like exercising! This is bodybuilding! This isn’t THERAPY!” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Jasper watched, judging him with her stare. “Therapy?” She scoffed.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“THERAPY!” Steven repeated. “What did YOU do when YOU got rejected by someone?!” His skin morphed into pink, consuming him faster than greed. “YOU WANTED TO FUSE WITH LAPIS, HOW DID IT FEEL WHEN SHE REJECTED YOU?!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Jasper sternly shot a narrowed glare that also bore shock. “Excuse me?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You heard me. How did you feel when someone you wanted to fuse with REJECTED you?!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Jasper bared her teeth. “You leave the past out of this.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“How?! How am I supposed to do that when the past affects today?! Everything I’ve ever done, everything I was and am… I never get a break! I… I saw things no kid should have- I stopped a GALACTIC DICTATOR from destroying earth and my family! All before I was even eighteen! I’ve been running around, saving people, getting hurt, getting nearly killed-! My friends almost died-!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Jasper pushed him down with her foot, pinning him to the ground.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Let me up!” Steven demanded, his entire body glowing pink.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Jasper only stared him down. “Focus.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“On what?!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Focus on me. You’re letting your emotions get the best of you. You’re consuming yourself.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What would you know?! All you did was be a bully!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I would know because I DID EXACTLY WHAT YOU’RE DOING NOW!” Jasper spat, her pupils turning to slits of rage. “I let my emotions, my power, my hunger go to my head. And this, THIS, is where I ended up. Look at me, son of Pink Diamond! Tell me what kind of Gem I am! Perfect warrior… pah. I’ve seen mongrels formed from clay that look better than I do.” She ground her foot into Steven’s chest, the dirt on her boot smudging his shirt with pieces of the earth. “Do you think I’m happy where I am now?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“It’s better than before…” Steven mumbled before he stopped, more pressure applied onto his chest.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You’re the only thing left of her now. Tell me, what do you think? Am I still the perfect warrior you so adored, Pink?” Jasper challenged. “I fought loyally, I fought endlessly, it was what I was made for. So when a pathetic excuse of Rose came waddling by, I could hardly even believe that it was the same Gem I respected. The same Gem that </span>
  <em>
    <span>murdered</span>
  </em>
  <span> my Diamond. The same Gem…” Jasper trailed off, removing her boot off of Steven. “... You look just like her when you get like that.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Steven shoved her boot away. “Rose IS my mother.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I know.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“And she was ALSO Pink Diamond!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I KNOW!” Jasper hissed. “Don’t think I’ve forgotten that, brute. This whole time, fighting my own superior that I adored. Psh.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’m her son! You’re still fighting her!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Jasper twitched. Then, she leaned over, keeping Steven on the ground by putting one of her hands on his face. “You think I’m stupid?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’m not-“</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Jasper laughed. “... You’d be right. Fighting is all I know. And I’m a damn fool.” She flicked his face, then backed away once more.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Steven waited a bit before getting up to his feet, wanting to make sure that Jasper wouldn’t just make him fall again. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You have her gem,” Jasper said.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Steven wiped his shirt, regretting leaving his jacket back at the boulders. A cold wind blew through.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“How have you made me a fool eon after eon?” Jasper began to talk to herself, rubbing one of her turquoise-blotched arms. “How did I lose my sanity so easily?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Steven stayed quiet.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“... I’m an ugly mess now, and for what? What did I gain out of this ramshackle? Nothing. I’m pathetic.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Steven gulped. He finished cleaning his shirt off to the best of his ability. “You did do some harmful things. You hurt people.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“All in the order of the Diamonds!” Jasper rebutted. “I fused with Lapis believing I could use Malachite to complete my mission once and for all! I’m a quartz- I was MADE to fight.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“So when you’re given nothing to fight?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Jasper sighed. “... Then I don’t know what to do.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Crickets began to chirp.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Steven looked down at the grass. “... Neither do I. It’s been so… peaceful, and while I love that there’s nobody else I need to fight, I feel like… that was my entire childhood. I was always fighting and always trying to not die… I think that I’m lost without that kind of normalcy. N-not that fighting everyday is normal, but…”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“It’s all you did,” Jasper finished. “That’s a warrior for you. You fight, and you keep fighting. You NEVER let your enemy win. I was so ready to win that I… lost my sanity.” She showed off the horns on her head left from corruption. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Steven bit his bottom lip. “I’m sorry about my outburst. But, I’m serious; I don’t know how your form of what you call helping is helping me in any way.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Your fusion outburst?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Not just that outburst…” Steven flushed in embarrassment.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Hmph.” Jasper tilted her head slightly towards the moon peeking over the clouds. “I’m building up your mental strength.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“With… physical strength?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“If you count it that way. Your mind is only as strong as you work it to be. If you let one rock fall, you let something get to you.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Those rocks actually represent something?!” Steven panicked.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Cool it.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I can’t-!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“One. Two,” Jasper began counting. “Stance isn’t all it. Breathing is too. Take in a breath too deep, and you’ll miss your punch. Take in a breath too small, and you’ll miss your throw. Three. Four. Five.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What is that even supposed to mean?!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“It’s a metaphor. I think that’s the word,” Jasper elaborated. “Now focus on your breathing and ground yourself before I do it myself.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I don’t think that threats are going to help.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Tch. They helped me.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“But they might not for </span>
  <em>
    <span>me</span>
  </em>
  <span>! Jasper, if you’re doing this for me, you need to understand that… people work differently.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Differently? How?” Jasper questioned.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“People… function different. What works for someone, may not work for someone else.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You managed to calm down just by talking. That’s impressive.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Steven opened his mouth to speak, then closed it. He breathed in deeply, afterwards breathing out. He did so a few times, closing his eyes until the color of his body changed back to normal. “At least </span>
  <em>
    <span>something </span>
  </em>
  <span>works…” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Jasper started walking off.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Hey! Where are you going?” Steven called.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Away,” Jasper replied. “You said it yourself, son of my Diamond. If my tactics aren’t working, you need another one.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“So you’re just… going to leave me?!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“No. I’m taking you to someone else who can help you.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Steven warily eyed Jasper before caving in and following her. “... You seriously are?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“It’s the least I can do. Don’t pester me about it, or I’ll change my mind.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Steven acknowledged it. “Jasper?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Hm?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Thanks for trying.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Jasper paused. The last she expected was a sudden hug, which genuinely shocked her as she found Steven giving her one.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Perhaps… maybe she wasn’t made for fighting all her life after all.</span>
</p><p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>// I’m stuck in my house under full lockdown... what more to do than pass the time by writing?<br/>Might be kinda OOC, idk I had this prompt in mind and went with it</p></blockquote></div></div>
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